The Vodafone Season of Chicago

EDUCATION PACK
SPONSORS
CONTENTS
Auckland Theatre Company
receives principal and core
funding from
Subsidised school matinees are
made possible by a grant from
ATC Education also thanks
the ATC Patrons and the ATC
Supporting Acts for their ongoing
generosity.
The 2013 Education Packs are
made possible by a grant from
CREDITS4
PLEASE NOTE:
•Schools’ performances are
followed by a Q&A Forum
lasting for 20 – 30 minutes in
the theatre immediately after
the performance.
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Origins
6
Synopsis
7
KEY THEMES AND IDEAS
8
ABOUT KANDER AND EBB
11
INTERVIEW WITH DIRECTOR - Michael Hurst
14
CHICAGO AND MUSIC
20
CHICAGO IN THE 1920s
22
LADY-KILLERS: Female Murderers In History
24
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES 26
ABOUT ATC EDUCATION
27
CURRICULUM LINKS
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•Eating and drinking in
the auditorium is strictly
prohibited.
VENUE:
•Please make sure all cell
phones are turned off prior
to the performance and, if
possible, please don’t bring
school bags to the theatre.
RUNNING TIME:
•Photography or recording
of any kind is STRICTLY
PROHIBITED.
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ABOUT THE PLAY
Q Theatre, 305 Queen Street, Auckland City
SCHOOLS’
PERFORMANCE: Tuesday 5 November at 6.30pm
SUITABILITY: ADVISORY:
2 hours 15 minutes, including an interval
This production is suitable for
students 15 years + only.
Contains occasional use of strong language,
sexual references, and violence.
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CAST
Lucy Lawless — Velma Kelly | Amanda Billing — Roxie Hart
Shane Cortese — Billy Flynn | Andrew Grainger — Amos Hart
Colleen Davis — Mama Morton | Sandra Rasmussen — Tallulah
Hannah Tasker-Poland — Liz/Foreman/Squaw/Fire Girl
Lavinia Uhila — Annie/Kitty
Rebekkah Schoonbeek — June | Katie Swift — Hunyak
Will Barling — Mona | Stephen Butterworth — Fogarty/Harrison/Clerk
Mike Edward — Fred Casely/Harry/Aaron | James Luck — Bailiff/Judge
Reporters & Chorus — Hannah, Lavinia, Rebekkah, Katie, Will,
Stephen, Mike and James
BAND
Stephen Thomas — Drums | Brett Adams — Guitar
Jeff Henderson — Sax and others | Cameron McArthur — Bass
CREATIVE
Michael Hurst — Director | Shona McCullagh — Choreographer
John Gibson — Musical Director | John Harding — Set Designer
Lesley Burkes-Harding — Costume Designer | Sean Lynch — Lighting Designer
James Luck — Dance Captain
PRODUCTION
Paul Nicoll — Technical & Production Manager
Fern Christie — Company Manager | Chelsea Adams — Stage Manager
Natalie Braid — Assistant Stage Manager
Rachel Marlow — Lighting Operator | Rory Maguire — Sound Engineer
Natasha Pearl — Props Master | Petra Verweij — Costume Assistant
Marion Olsen + Jo Hawke — Costume Cutters
Sally Bourner — Costume Assistant Intern | Minera Mallete — Machinist
Thomas Press — Flyman | 2Construct — Set Construction
Katrina Turkilsen — Intern Observing Operations
EDUCATION PACK
Amber McWilliams — Writer | Lynne Cardy — Editor
Michael Smith — Production Images | Claire Flynn — Graphic Design
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ABOUT CHICAGO
ORIGINS
Kander and Ebb’s musical is based on the
1926 Maurine Watkins play CHICAGO.
This was inspired by two real-life Jazz-era
killers, Beulah Annan and Belva Gaertner,
suspected of murder but acquitted.
Watkins covered their trials for the Chicago
Tribune, and the popularity of her columns
prompted her to turn the women’s stories
into a play. Her script inspired a 1927
movie, ROXIE HART; a 1942 movie
version starring Ginger Rogers; and
Kander and Ebb’s 1975 stage musical, on
which the 2002 film was based. Watkins’
play debuted on Broadway in 1926,
running for 172 performances. (To avoid
confusion with the musical, the play is now
titled PLAY BALL when performed.)
history. The 2002 film version of the
musical, directed and choreographed by
Rob Marshall, won three Golden Globes
and six Academy Awards (including Best
Picture) in 2003. The soundtrack of the
film went platinum in 2004 and triple
platinum in 2005.
The Kander and Ebb musical of CHICAGO
opened in 1975, to mixed reviews. Many
reviewers objected to the show’s cynicism,
with Stephen Farber calling it “Bob Fosse’s
love-hate letter to Broadway razzle-dazzle
– a valentine engraved in acid.”
Velma Kelly and the company introduce
Jazz era values: letting loose and painting
the town ('All That Jazz'). Roxie Hart,
drunk, staggers in with her lover Fred
Caseley. When he dumps her, she shoots
him dead. Roxie convinces her husband,
Amos, to confess to shooting the “burglar”
('Funny Honey'), but he works out the
truth and tells the police. Roxie confesses.
“CHICAGO is one of the most
unsympathetic musicals ever written,
second only to THE THREEPENNY
OPERA in its cynical view of humanity.”
- James Leve in Kander and Ebb
However, the production proved popular
with the public, and played for 936
performances. The 1996 Broadway revival
was even more successful, becoming
the longest-running revival in Broadway
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SYNOPSIS
ACT ONE
The Master of Ceremonies introduces
“a story of murder, greed, corruption,
violence, exploitation, adultery and
treachery – all those things we hold
near and dear to our hearts.”
and asks for Velma’s advice, but Velma is
dismissive. Mama recommends Velma’s
lawyer, Billy Flynn, to Roxie. Roxie begs
Amos to get $5000 to pay Billy.
Billy Flynn is introduced ('All I Care
About'). Amos visits Billy and pays $2000.
Billy agrees to take the case, get Roxie
publicity, and auction Roxie’s things to
raise the rest of the money. He drills
Roxie on her grounds (“self-defence”),
guiding her through a press conference
like a ventriloquist’s dummy ('We Both
Reached For The Gun'). Roxie’s story hits
the papers; she dreams of vaudeville fame
on her release ('Roxie'). Velma is jealous,
especially when Mama says Velma’s
vaudeville tour is cancelled due to Roxie’s
rising star. Desperate, Velma asks Roxie
to do a double act ('I Can’t Do It Alone').
Roxie dismisses her.
Mama outlines the latest female murder
case: Kitty guns down her lover Harry and
the two women she finds in bed with him.
Billy wrangles Kitty and the media, dissing
Roxie and Velma, who both vow not to
be defeated ('My Own Best Friend').
Roxie declares she is pregnant; the
press are enthralled.
ACT TWO
While Roxie milks her pregnancy with the
press ('Look At My Baby And Me'), Billy
decides to convince Amos to divorce her.
Amos laments being unnoticed ('Mister
Cellophane'); Billy manipulates him into
divorcing Roxie. Billy gives Velma’s trial
date to Roxie, and tries to tell Roxie how
to behave at the trial, but she is cocky
and fires him.
Another jailed woman, Hunyak, pleads
innocence and is hanged. Roxie, terrified,
agrees to Billy’s demands ('Razzle
Dazzle'); her performance at the trial
convinces the jury she killed to protect
her husband’s unborn child. Mama and
Velma listen in and complain about the
lowbrow tricks (mostly Velma’s) that
Roxie is using ('Class'). As the verdict is
announced, another murder is committed
and the press rush out. Roxie is acquitted
without fanfare. Billy leaves; Amos tries to
reconcile with Roxie, but she tells him the
pregnancy is fake, then ignores him, lost in
regret for her lost celebrity ('Nowadays').
Velma joins Roxie for a double act after all
('Nowadays' / 'R.S.V.P' / 'Keep It Hot').
In prison, six women detail the murders
they committed ('Cell Block Tango').
Matron “Mama” Morton explains how she
looks after the women – for a price ('When
You’re Good To Mama'). Velma Kelly,
double murderess, discusses her publicity
with Mama, and they plan a vaudeville tour
for after her acquittal. Roxie arrives in jail
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KEY THEMES & IDEAS
META-THEATRICALITY
Kander and Ebb’s musicals draw attention
to their own performativity, and often
prompt the audience to think about the
structure of the musical itself. This is a
device most famously associated with
musical theatre practitioner Bertolt
Brecht, “who emphasized the intrinsic
disconnect between narrative and
musical performance.”
CHICAGO exemplifies many of the
techniques used to create ‘alienation’
in musical theatre. As In the biography
Kander and Ebb, James Leve writes:
“Richard Hornby has identified five
major types of metatheater that writers
such as Kander and Ebb employ to
draw attention to the artifice and overt
theatricality of their work: 1) the play
within the play, 2) performed ceremony,
3) roleplaying within the role, 4) literary
and real life references, and 5) selfreference. CHICAGO employs all five:
Roxie and Velma’s stage act at the
end of the musical (play within the
play); Hunyak’s hanging and Roxie’s
trial (performed ceremony); Roxie’s
imitation of a ventriloquist dummy
during 'We Both Reached For the Gun'
(role-playing within a role); references
to entertainers such as Sophie Tucker
(literary and real-life references);
musical calling attention to itself as a
musical entertainment (self-reference).”
Thus CHICAGO offers a view of life-asshow and show-as-life. It is not what is,
but what can be “sold” to the audience,
that is important.
her downfall – on the end of a rope. Even
her death is represented as an act, as she
performs “The Hungarian rope trick”.
James Leve details which songs
are based on the style of particular
performers, or on common
vaudeville acts:
Songs
Vaudeville Associations
“All that Jazz”
Texas Guinan (1884-1933) (during prohibition
owned a famous speakeasy called the 300 club)
“Funny Honey”
Helen Morgan (1900-1941) (“Can’t Help Lovin’ Dat
Man”, “Bill” and “Don’t Ever Leave Me”)
“When You’re Good to Mama”
Sophie Tucker (1884-1966) (“You’ve Got to See
Mama Every Night”)
“All I Care About is Love”
Ted Lewis (“I’m Crazy ‘Bout My Baby, and My
Baby’s Crazy ‘Bout Me”)
“A Little Bit of Good”
Julian Eltinge (1883-1941) and Bert Savoy (female
impersonators)
“We Both Reached for the Gun”
Ventriloquist acts
“Me and My Baby”
Eddie Cantor (1892-1964) (“Yes Sir, That’s My
Baby” & “My Baby Just Cares For Me”)
“Mister Cellophane”
Bert Williams (1876-1922) (“Nobody”)
VAUDEVILLE
In CHICAGO, vaudeville is used as a
metaphor for the American justice system:
the best performance wins over the press
and the jury. The show not only has a
vaudeville framing, with the Master of
Ceremonies introducing the story and
setting the scene, but almost all of its
scenes and set pieces reference
vaudeville traditions.
As 'Razzle Dazzle' indicates, everything
that happens in the courtroom is a
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performance, not just Roxie and Billy’s
act. When Billy de-wigs Mary Sunshine, it
demonstrates that all the characters are
playing roles. The only character who tries
to be ‘honest’, the Hunyak, is eliminated
because she refuses to “play ball” and
join the charade. However, even her story
shows the performativity of American
culture: she has been duped by Uncle
Sam’s promises of justice, honesty and
integrity. Her belief in this representation is
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ABOUT KANDER AND EBB
Composer John Kander and lyricist Fred
Ebb collaborated for more than forty
years, longer than any such partnership
in Broadway history. Together they
wrote over twenty musicals. Their two
most successful works, CABARET and
CHICAGO, had critically acclaimed
Broadway revivals and were made into
Oscar-winning films. Between 1996
and 2009, at least one Kander and Ebb
musical occupied a Broadway theatre
365 days a year.
In biographer James Leves’ words,
“Kander and Ebb are provocateurs
and arguably the most subversive
practitioners of the concept musical.
… By exploring serious issues through
the lens of American popular culture,
Kander and Ebb virtually invented the
self-referential musical and exploited the
inherent contradiction of breaking into
song in the middle of a realistic scene.”
The two had very different upbringings,
early experiences and personalities.
Kander was born into a Jewish family
who supported his talents; he was
introduced to the piano, wrote his first
song instead of paying attention in his
second grade math class, and created a
musical for his high school. Ebb’s family
was strict and unemotional, and music
was not part of their lives; Ebb was never
taken to the theatre and got his first taste
of musicals through cast recordings,
escaping his family by going to the theatre.
"I was always attracted to the idea
of words and music together telling
a story. It sounds phony, but it’s true.
It’s just something that I did and didn’t
think about a lot. I wrote a show for
high school and a couple of other
local shows, but it was just a part of
life. And I assumed that my life would
continue in that direction."
- John Kander

JOHN KANDER
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FRED EBB
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JOHN KANDER
FRANK EBB
 Born Kansas City, Missouri, 1927
 Born New York City, NY, 1935
 Attended Pembroke Country-Day
School and Oberlin College
 Attended DeWitt Clinton High School
– graduated early as valedictorian
 Flora, The Red Menace (1965)
 Earned Bachelor’s degree in
Music Composition from Oberlin
Conservatory of Music and Master’s
degree in Composition from
Columbia University
 Earned Bachelor’s degree from New
York University (in record time) and
Master’s in English Literature from
Columbia University
 Go Fly a Kite (1966), an industrial
musical for General Electric
 Served in the Merchant Marine
Cadet Corps and Army Reserves
until 1957
 Began his Broadway career as
substitute rehearsal pianist for West
Side Story; led to being asked to
compose for Gypsy
 Made living coaching singers,
playing auditions and conducting
productions
 Worked as a shoe salesman and
credit authoriser
 Wrote limericks and light verse;
friends encouraged him to write
professionally
KANDER AND EBB
MUSICALS
 Cabaret (1966)
 The Happy Time (1968)
 Zorba (1968)
 70, Girls, 70 (1971)
 Chicago (1975)
 2 by 5 (1976)
 The Act (1978)
 Woman of the Year (1981)
 The Rink (1984)
 Worked with Phil Springer and
Paul Klein; created lyrics for songs,
musical theatre and TV shows
 And The World Goes 'Round
(1991)
 Met composer John Kander in 1962
 Steel Pier (1997)
 Kiss of the Spider Woman (1992)
 Fosse (1999)
 Over And Over a.k.a All About Us
(1999)
 Met lyricist Fred Ebb in 1962
 The Visit (2001)
Kander and Ebb were introduced by
music publisher Tommy Valando. They
met at Ebb’s apartment and talked about
song writing and musicals. As a trial
collaboration, they wrote their first song,
“Take Her, She’s Mine”.
"It was a case of instant
communication and instant song. Our
neuroses complemented each other,
and because we worked in the same
room at the same time, I didn’t have
to finish a lyric, then hand it over to
[Kander] to compose it." - Fred Ebb
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This set the pattern for their decadeslong collaboration. Freddy and Johnny, as
they called each other, continued to work
in Ebb’s little apartment, churning out
songs and musical numbers for artists
like Barbra Streisand and Liza Minnelli,
as well as the twenty-odd musicals that
made them famous. The two enjoyed
their work together despite very different
temperaments: Kander tended to be
sentimental and lyrical, while Ebb was
campy and cynical.
 Curtains (2006)
 The Scottsboro Boys (2010)
The Kander and Ebb collaboration only
ended with Frank Ebb’s death in 2004.
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INTERVIEW WITH DIRECTOR –
MICHAEL HURST
Michael in Rehearsal
Amber McWilliams uncovers razzle dazzle, danger, relevance and Brechtian influences
whilst talking to director Michael Hurst about his interpretation of CHICAGO.
ON DIRECTING
MUSICALS
Michael Hurst gives a tongue-in-cheek
answer when asked the difference
between directing plays and musicals:
“they have music”. But seriously,
musicals are “more like Shakespeare
than like plays. There’s that heightened
thing, the theatricality. Telling a story
with song is a bit like poetry. Musicals
have an interesting sequential structure
– acting, songs, acting, songs. But the
storytelling is the same. I’m still giving
the actors the same notes about making
sure they’re telling the story, that they
have their intentions, that they’re reaching
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the ends of the lines… When you get to
the songs, they have their own structure
and you want to honour that. Usually
they build really well. Look at the opening
number of this show, 'All That Jazz' – it’s
an incredibly powerful number. In fact,
the first four or five songs in this piece
are all amazing, and they come almost
immediately one after the other.”
His mission is to find ways to treat each
song differently, to create the build they
need. He does this by questioning the
intent of the songs: “How do they relate
to the characters? For example, the song
'Roxie': how does that relate to her need
to be famous?”
Plus, of course, you get to do the
showmanship of production numbers
with sequins and jazz hands. Yes, says
Michael, “if you’re doing a naturalistic
play, it’s not going to be like this – they’re
not going to be wearing spangled
costumes. You get to do big performance
stuff – razzle dazzle – although our
production has no jazz hands. We’ve
banned them.”
ON RAZZLE DAZZLE
AND DANGER
That moves Michael on to the darker
concept underpinning this production.
“ 'Razzle Dazzle' is all about obfuscation
and distraction. What we’re doing is
saying to you, the audience / jury, ‘look
over there while we foist this injustice on
you’ – and you agree. I’ve mined that
dog-eat-dog level of it quite deeply in
this production. Not so that it distracts
from the entertainment – because it’s
still entertainment – but we’re grownups now in 2013 and the cynicism in the
show makes sense to us.”
Michael feels that traditional presentations
of CHICAGO are a bit tame: “it’s like it’s
preserved in aspic up there, and that’s
boring to me because it’s safe. I don’t
think it’s a safe show. I don’t think being
in Chicago in the 1920s was that safe.
Prohibition wasn’t safe. The very first
line of the show says ‘you’re about to
see a story of murder, greed, corruption,
violence, adultery and treachery’,
and I say, ‘sound familiar?' Just read
the papers now. Read about Len
Brown. Read about what the National
Government is doing. Read about the
American political scene. Read about all
the razzle dazzle that’s going on. You’re
being duped. That’s what I’m trying to
look at, in the way that the show does,
which is comic… But our production’s
more akin to THE THREEPENNY OPERA
than it is to the original CHICAGO. It’s not
even as safe as my version of CABARET
[for ATC in 2010]; I know people thought
of CABARET ‘oh, it’s great, it’s risqué’
and everything, but this isn’t as safe as
that. It’s much more dangerous, I think,
as a production.”
ON CHARACTERISATION
Michael has brought out the hard edges
of many of the characters. For example,
the narrator is “what Roxie and Velma
are going to turn into, which is someone
who has been on the boards all her life
and subject to the awful exploitation of
it. Sandra Rasmussen is playing the role,
and I said to her that if Roxie and Velma
are beautiful armchairs, she’s a really old
couch!” He wants to show that their fate
“isn’t going to be pretty”.
In 'Cell Block Tango', “where all the
women are going ‘he had it coming’ and
it’s a sexy tango, and people love it, and
its funny: ‘he ran into my knife… he ran
into my knife ten times’. But what does
that look like, actually? And what does
a woman look like when she’s out of her
mind on really bad alcohol, and drugs,
and screaming at a man and shooting?
Well, no – it’s not funny. So I wanted –
without destroying the entertainment,
again – to make sure that stuff was
in there, in the same way as in THE
THREEPENNY OPERA you see that
hard edge of Macheath, for example.”
CHICAGO’s rogue male gets similar
treatment. “Unsympathetic characters still
have great power, and people love them.
You’re going to love Billy Flynn. He’s like
Tony Soprano, sort of… But Billy Flynn,
who everybody loves, is perpetrating an
amoral act, of perversion of justice, in
my view, so let’s have it there. And if you
still like him, well, hey, that means you’re
going to have to interrogate why.”
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ON VAUDEVILLE AND
SHOWMANSHIP
There’s fantastic choreography, amazing
singing, all of that stuff.”
Shining light on the dark underpinnings
does not mean losing the show’s glitz;
Michael says “we’ve even made it more
‘show biz’ in many ways”. However, there
is less focus on the vaudeville aspects
of the original show. Michael has cut
the introductions to specific numbers
“because some of the juxtapositions
of songs work more powerfully to me
when they’re just one after the other,
because we live in an age of television,
movies, cuts and stuff like that.” In the
original show, he explains, Kander and
Ebb referenced “specific acts that were
famous in vaudeville… who cares? We
don’t know about them, and they’re not
in our vernacular. We’ve moved away
from doing, for example, 'Mr Cellophane'
in the way of Bert Williams, who did a
song called 'Nobody'. Instead, we’re
looking at the passion of the show’s
character, and what happens to people
who never get heard in themselves: the
rage. Look at Roxie: when she sings ‘the
name on everybody’s lips’, we want to
bring it to what’s happening now.
ON RELEVANCE
"Recently I read an article about Lorde;
it claimed she’s single-handedly got rid
of Miley Cyrus, and pop in that style…
You’re always looking over your shoulder,
in that world of celebrity. It’s all about
newspapers in CHICAGO; well, what is
our culture about? Cellphones, telly, the
media. It’s the same. So the musical feels
slightly different. It’s not vaudeville, but
it’s definitely a show. There’s no question.
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All these decisions are about connecting
the show with a contemporary audience.
Michael is aware that this is risky when
presenting such a well-known show.
“It may be that the older people will
remember productions of CHICAGO
they’ve seen – well, if they want to see
that again they’ve just got to rent the
movie. I want them to get a surprise,
because I think theatre needs to provoke
and surprise or what’s the point? And I
would really love for a younger generation
to come and go ‘wow, this is great’.
We’re deliberately taking a slightly
subversive look and saying ‘how can we
make it stand up now?’” So it’s about
relevance? “Relevance and theatrical
power…”
“Even though in the song ‘Nowadays’
they say ‘in fifty years it’s gonna change,
you know’ – it hasn’t really changed that
much. The same things still operate.
You read about the flappers in Chicago
and the liberation and the jazz, and it’s
romanticised quite a lot: speakeasies,
illegal drugs, Al Capone… that’s very
ugly and very violent. Women were
suddenly able to be sexually liberated,
but within a breath of that, it got
exploited. I wanted to make sure that
was in the show. That it isn’t actually
happy days. Even at the end, when
there’s this awful, cynical, horrible ending
– and it’s in the original script, I haven’t
changed this – with Roxie and Velma
singing “God bless America” while the
Morman Tabernacle Choir sing “The
Battle Hymn of the Republic”, you go ‘this
has got a really hollow ring’. You see the
narrator standing there, looking at these
two women going ‘God bless America,
thank you, we love you!’ and she’s got a
bottle of gin in one hand and a cigarette
in the other. I just find that juxtaposition
quite powerful, and I wanted to make
sure that was in it, to make people think
a bit harder.”
ON SET AND STYLE
The set will contribute to the freshness.
“For a start we’ve got audience on four
sides. We had someone write to the
theatre and say ‘I’ve seen CHICAGO,
and I don’t see how you could possibly
do it on four sides – can you explain
this to me?’ Colin said ‘just come and
see it and enjoy the experience’. It is a
challenge. Straight away, we couldn’t
have chorus lines with a backdrop. Every
view needs to be a fabulous view – it just
mightn’t be the same view as the other
side. You might have to come four times!”
His cast is carefully choreographed –
and not just when they’re dancing – to
achieve this. “We’ve got fourteen in
the cast. We’ve got the leads, and
then the six women who operate as
the prisoners: they also operate as a
chorus – sometimes as a Greek chorus,
almost, sometimes as a chorus line –
and they play other different characters.
They’re not dressing up, though;
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they’re not putting on another hat and
a costume and a moustache. None of
that’s happening. It’s completely in the
Brechtian mode. ‘Now you see me do
this; now you see me do that.’ It’s hard
work, and that’s what you’ll see. The
mechanics remain visible, very clearly.
And I think that makes it even more
powerful. I love it.”
Choreographer Shona McCullagh’s first
response to Michael’s four-sided concept
was “‘how am I going to do this?!” But,
says Michael, “we’ve made it work.
With Cabaret, we had about 270˚, we
had a backdrop, and we had a revolve
that went up and down. Here we’ve got
audience on four sides, it’s a rectangle
and there’s no revolve. There’s nothing.
It’s wonderful. The audience should
come in and go ‘God, they’ve not made
much effort’ and then they see what’s
presented.” As Michael points out, the
only way to change the empty stage “is
to drop things in or drop things through
the floor or bring the floor up.” They did
experiment with Q’s floor lift, but found
it too slow. In the end, there are only
a few flying elements, which Michael
says are more “big props” than set. He
also says “we’re throwing a whole lot of
old-fashioned stuff at it – glitter drops,
bubble machines – and that adds to the
chintzy nature of some of the numbers.
But really, it’s all about the people. And
there’s something quite exhilarating about
seeing people move with each other, in
choreographic terms, but also in acting
terms – seeing people have to play to
four sides, which has meant we’ve had
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to acknowledge the audience. They’re
there all the time; they’re in the scenes,
they’re watching the numbers, so people
can throw lines to the audience. Very
Brechtian. We love Brecht.”
Michael is full of praise for how his team
have realised this difficult vision. “What
the actors and the dancers and Shona
and John have brought to it is just
incredible.” He’s hard pressed to pick a
favourite number. “We just did 'Roxie'
before, and I love it to bits – I laugh out
loud… But then I watch 'All That Jazz'
and go ‘wow’. It’s hard to say. I think that
structurally the script has some issues in
the original, and that’s hard to fix. I think it
dissipates quite strongly towards the end.
You think ‘where’s it going? where’s it
gone?’ I’ve never understood quite why it
suddenly fritters out. I think it’s partly due
to Bob Fosse having a heart attack while
they were making it! It has a problematic
end. But as a piece – I love all the songs.
And we’re giving the full treatment to all
of them.”
TALKING POINTS
• How is this show like
Shakespeare? Can you draw
any specific parallels with
Shakespearean drama you have
read, seen or studied?
• Do you love the amoral Billy
Flynn? How do you justify your
response to this character and
his actions, whether you love him
or hate him?
• How is the relationship between
the narrator and the other
characters drawn? What are the
key features of her role in this
production?
• What Brechtian techniques did
you recognise in this production?
How did you respond to this kind
of ‘alienation’?
• How do you feel about the
show’s ending? Does it ‘fritter
out’ in your view?
19
CHICAGO AND MUSIC
Musical Director John Gibson explains the rich musical influences in CHICAGO.
John Gibson is quick to point out the links
between risqué Chicago in the 1920s
and the rise of jazz. “Jazz used to be
music of personality and danger; it was
the vanguard of a musical revolution. And
Chicago was always a bad-ass town.”
As an example of the two worlds coming
together, “Louis Armstrong used to play
in huge trumpet duels for the gangsters
of Chicago.”
Jazz first came to Chicago from the
South. “New Orleans was where they
say jazz was born – in Beale St. This
is was where African-American music
collided with the more learned society
of Creole culture to form an intoxicating
blend.” John notes that “when the blues
performers came to Chicago from the
Mississippi Delta, it was like an
explosion of electricity in the music.”
This transformative moment was
captured in the new musical style of
artists like Howling Wolf and Muddy
Waters. Such edgy music encompassed
changing social values around issues
like sex. “The revolution of jazz and its
embrace by whites in the 1920s was
mirrored in the similar revolution of rock
’n’ roll in the late 50s. Both terms – ‘jazz’
and ‘rock and roll’ – were slang for sexual
intercourse.”
CHICAGO’s music incorporates this
parallel. As John says, “The opening riff
from ‘All That Jazz’ is, strangely, not from
jazz, but early rock ‘n’ roll. If you listen
20
to songs like Shirley and Lee’s ‘Let the
Good Times Roll’ and Chuck Willis’ ‘I
Don’t Want to Hang up my Rock ‘n’ Roll
Shoes’, you will hear this riff, and it is a
signature of the early rock ‘n’ roll from
New Orleans.”
John calls CHICAGO “a pastiche
musical”, and highlights other specific
musical references: songs like ‘Nobody’,
by black entertainer Bert Williams, and
‘Hula Lou’, the song that the real Roxie
Hart played for three hours after killing
her lover (which John has included in the
Auckland Theatre Company production).
John talks of other revelations from the
rehearsal research process. “If you listen
to YouTube clips of performers like Sophie
Tucker (who Roxie is so keen to oust in
the show) and the older singing styles
of Al Jolson and even Judy Garland –
completely unfashionable now – you hear
performances of total passion, born of a
world before the microphone, where you
had to project a song over the footlights
with total conviction and power.” He feels
this has been a discovery of “even older
wealth than was in the original show.
In this way we see how history doesn’t
move in straight lines, but in huge
looping circles.”
seemed at the time to be the way of the
future for musicals. John says, “What has
happened to CHICAGO since that birth
is that the world has caught up with it. In
a concert revival, there was a discovery
that the characters in the show were
more interesting and believable than
first appeared. The recent movie version
brought this home to everyone.”
John feels that audiences now will cope
with the show’s un-glossed realities.
“We no longer need the immaculate style
that made this dark world palatable and
attractive.” As he points out, “in these
days of X-Factor, Facebook, mayoral
shenanigans, Lorde versus Miley Cyrus,
where everyone’s two seconds of fame
is a reality, we finally live in the world that
CHICAGO seemed to preposterously
describe. We now believe and know
these people. Every day, in every way, the
story of Roxie and Velma – of corruption
and media – is played out over and over.
We live now in the world of CHICAGO.”
John has a final word for his musicians.
“I would like to thank my brilliant band.
This kind of work would be impossible
without their skill and dedication. From
the very first, the concept was to have
a band that showed off their technique.
Music is a living art form, so do
yourselves a favour: read their bios and
go and see them play. You will have
a wonderful night.”
TALKING POINTS
• Do you recognize any of the
specific musical influences in
CHICAGO? If not, do you think it
is important to have this context,
or does the show stand on its
own without this knowledge?
• How do the ideas of “personality
and danger” come through in
the songs of this musical – both
lyrically and musically?
• The musical was initially
dismissed as “too dark, cynical
and clever”. To what extent do
you agree with this assessment?
• John draws parallels between
CHICAGO’s celebrity world and
current cultural happenings.
What other examples might
you identify?
Times have certainly changed. When
CHICAGO opened, “it was deemed too
dark, cynical and clever”. It lost out on
Tony Awards to A Chorus Line, which
21
NOWADAYS:
CHICAGO IN THE 1920S
PROHIBITION: COLD GIN
AND HOT PIANOS
After the Great War, there was public
pressure in the United States to stop the
sale and supply of alcohol. The aim of the
Prohibition movement was to reduce crime,
keep people at home with their families,
and generally “clean up” society. The
government responded to this movement
with the 18th Amendment to the United
States Constitution, which prohibited
the manufacture, sale, transport, import,
or export of alcoholic beverages. When
the states had ratified the Amendment,
Congress approved it in October 1919, and
the amendment became law – the National
Prohibition Act – on 17 January 1920.
Prohibition did not have the desired effect.
Most people continued to drink illegally;
in 1925, five years after Prohibition began,
the average American over the age of 14
was drinking 32.2 gallons of alcohol a year.
“Bootleggers” smuggled alcohol from other
countries and distributed it within the United
States. People made their own “moonshine”
in illegal stills, with whole communities
involved in the manufacture and supply of
alcohol.
Mother's in the kitchen
Washing out the jugs;
Sister's in the pantry
Bottling the suds;
Father's in the cellar
Mixing up the hops;
Johnny's on the front porch
Watching for the cops.
- A popular Prohibition era poem
22
Alcohol sales actually increased during the
period, as did sales of alcohol substitutes
such as narcotics and marijuana. One
woman, Clara Due, recalls: "it didn't
work. It was terrible. It just made it all the
more exciting for the young kids. … They
probably wouldn't have bothered with it
if it wasn't illegal. But, you know, it really
made it exciting to do something you're not
supposed to."
In response to demand, secret drinking
spaces sprang up in the cities. These
”speakeasies”, as they were called, supplied
not only alcohol, but also a good time – live
jazz and dancing – and were open to both
men and women, unlike the old saloons,
which were men-only affairs. Sex and
violence often resulted from the heady
atmosphere and widespread drunkenness.
“Gin and guns – either one is bad
enough, but together they get you in
a dickens of a mess.”
Belva Gaertner, the cabaret singer on whom the
character of Velma Kelly was based.
In 1932, a resolution was submitted to
Congress to annul the 18th Amendment
and abolish Prohibition. This led to the
21st Amendment, which was passed by
Congress on February 20, 1933 and then
ratified by the states. President Roosevelt
signed the proclamation officially ending
Prohibition on 5 December 1933.
TRUE CRIME: THE
CHICAGO GANGSTERS
ALL THAT JAZZ: THE
JAZZ AGE IN CHICAGO
During the Prohibition era, crime actually
worsened. Statistics show that ordinary
people suddenly became habitual law
breakers for the sake of a drink, and
authorities struggled to stem the tide.
In the 1920s, the city of Chicago was awash
with blues and jazz musicians. About
75,000 people, mainly black, had come to
the city from the South, in what became
known as “the Great Migration”, Musicians
came north after clubs in Storyville, New
Orleans, were closed.
• Police funding: INCREASED $11.4 Million
• Arrests for Prohibition Law Violations:
INCREASED 102+%
• Arrests for Drunkenness and Disorderly
Conduct: INCREASED 41%
• Arrests of Drunken Drivers: INCREASED
81%
• Thefts and Burglaries: INCREASED 9%
• Homicides, Assault, and Battery:
INCREASED 13%
• Number of Federal Convicts: INCREASED
561%
• Federal Prison Population: INCREASED
366%
• Total Federal Expenditures on Penal
Institutions: INCREASED 1,000%
Organized crime syndicates also sprang
up around liquor supply. Efforts to enforce
Prohibition were countered by wellorganized bootlegging operations with
national and international connections. In
Chicago, Al Capone`s mob became the
most notorious, but gangs also sprang
up in Detroit, New York and other cities.
Grisly gang war killings frequently made
headlines. The St Valentine’s Day massacre,
where Capone’s South Side gang machinegunned seven North Side rivals, was a key
event.
The 1930s saw a rash of movies about
Chicago mobsters. Films such Little Caesar
(1931), The Public Enemy (1931), Scarface
(1932), and Angels with Dirty Faces (1938)
fed the public’s appetite for gangster
stories. More recently, director Brian
DePalma made The Untouchables (1987),
adapted from the 1959 hit TV series.
“The newcomers…
became part of an already
flourishing African-American
community on Chicago's
South Side, the economic and
entertainment district of which was
known as "The Stroll." It was the
prospect of work in a community
that could afford to pay to have a
good time that drew musicians to
Chicago, where they assembled
in an unprecedented critical
mass of jazz talent.”
- Chicago Library
The rise of jazz coincided with the rise of
radio broadcast and recording technology.
With the introduction of large-scale radio
broadcasts in 1922, all Americans were able
to experience different styles of music: jazz
out reached across the country.
The 1920s also saw female musicians such
as Bessie Smith and Billie Holiday coming to
eminence. Jazz paved the way for women
in other ways, too. Women visited the
speakeasies and embraced new freedoms:
“flappers” rejected the constricting corsets
and long skirts of previous generations, with
short skirts and dropped waistline dresses
allowing them to literally kick up their heels
to the hot new music. Chicago’s concern
with the role of media and women reflects
key issues for America during this period of
post-war equality and freer sexuality.
23
LADY KILLERS:
FEMALE MURDERERS IN HISTORY
AND POPULAR CULTURE
Female criminals – particularly
murderers – have long been popular
subjects. Media coverage of trials gives
these women notoriety; numerous
websites are dedicated to the grisly
details of female serial killers and
murderers. Fictional coverage makes
the most of the shock value of
female crime, with stories of murder,
imprisonment and rehabilitation being
perennially popular.
In the United States, almost all the most
notorious female killers are convicted of
murdering their own husbands, lovers or
children. However, women are still a tiny
minority of death penalty convictions
and executions. As at December 31,
2007, only 568 female executions had
been documented since 1632, which
constituted 2.8% of the total known
executions in the United States since
1608. According to the NAACP Legal
Defense Fund, 63 women were on
death row in the USA as at January 1,
2013, constituting 2% of the total death
row population. Thirteen women have
been executed since 1976.
Female prisons have proved a popular
setting for drama. Australian TV series
PRISONER: CELL BLOCK H, set
in a high security women’s prison,
became a cult classic, running from
24
1979–1986. It sparked a host of spinoffs: in 1991, it was re-versioned for
the American market as DANGEROUS
WOMEN; in 1997, for the German TV
market as HINTER GITTERN - DER
FRAUENKNAST (BEHIND BARS); and
in 1999, ITV unveiled a British equivalent
entitled BAD GIRLS. A new series has
recently been made in Australia and
screened in New Zealand.
In New Zealand, several high profile
murders have been committed by
women. Williamina "Minnie" Dean was
found guilty of infanticide (after police
discovered two babies and a toddler
buried in her garden). She was hanged
on 12 August 1895 – the only woman
to receive the death penalty in New
Zealand. Three other women had
previously been sentenced to death
for murder – Caroline Whitting (1872),
Phoebe Veitch (1883) and Sarah-Jane
and Anna Flannagan (1891) – but
their sentences were commuted to life
imprisonment. Minnie Dean’s story was
included in a play A CRY TOO FAR
FROM HEAVEN performed at the 2012
Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
with the headline “Let’s Moider Mother”
(taken from Pauline’s diary) entering
the popular consciousness. The story
of the girls’ friendship and the murder
was explored in Michelanne Forster’s
play DAUGHTERS OF HEAVEN (1991)
and Peter Jackson’s film HEAVENLY
CREATURES (1994). Beryl Bainbridge's
novel Harriet Said was inspired by the
incident.
THE SIMPSONS episode 429, "Lisa the
Drama Queen", is also loosely based on
this story.
TALKING POINTS
• What do you think prompts
a particular fascination with
female murderers?
• CHICAGO “teaches that in
America being a bad celebrity is
just as advantageous as being
a good one.” Do you think this
is true in New Zealand today?
What is your response to the
‘celebrity criminal’?
• How does today’s media culture
compare to the reporters’
behaviour in CHICAGO?
Pauline Parker and Juliet Hulme were
convicted of the murder of Pauline’s
mother, Honorah Rieper, in 1954 in
Christchurch. The case was huge news,
25
RESOURCES AND LINKS
ABOUT ATC EDUCATION
Death Penalty Information Centre. “Facts About the Death Penalty.”
Published 16 October 2013. Accessed 22 October 2013.
http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/documents/FactSheet.pdf
ATC Education promotes and encourages teaching and participation in
theatre and acts as a resource for secondary and tertiary educators. It is a
comprehensive and innovative education programme designed to nurture
young theatre practitioners and future audiences.
Leve, James. Kander and Ebb. Yale University Press: London, 2009.
Meredith, William. “The Great Experiment: Thirteen Years of Prohibition 1920 1933”. University at Albany, New York. Published 29 April 2005. Accessed
22 October 2013. http://www.albany.edu/~wm731882/index.html
Oteri, Frank J “John Kander: Passing through curtains.” newmusicbox.
Published 1 May 2010. Accessed 22 October 2013. http://www.newmusicbox.
org/articles/john-kander-passing-through-curtains/
Rees, Jasper. “theartsdesk Q&A: John Kander”. 15 December 2012.
Accessed 22 October 2013. http://www.theartsdesk.com/theatre/theartsdeskqa-composer-john-kander
Snook, Brody. “Lady Killers: History’s Most Notorious Female Murderers.”
8 March (year not given). Accessed 22 October 2013.
http://www.sickchirpse.com/lady-killers/
ATC Education has direct contact with secondary school students
throughout the greater Auckland region with a focus on delivering an
exciting and popular programme that supports the Arts education of
Auckland students and which focuses on curriculum development, literacy
and the Arts.
Auckland Theatre Company acknowledges that the experiences enjoyed by
the youth of today are reflected in the vibrancy of theatre in the future.
CURRICULUM LINKS
All drama students are expected to study NZ Drama at every level, with an
emphasis on challenging social and cultural discourses at Level 3.
ATC Education activities relate directly to the PK, UC and CI strands of the
NZ Curriculum from levels 5 to 8. They also have direct relevance to many
of the NCEA achievement standards at all three levels.
All secondary school Drama students (Years 9 to 13) should be
experiencing live theatre as a part of their course work, Understanding the
Arts in Context. Curriculum levels 6, 7 and 8 (equivalent to years 11, 12 and
13) require the inclusion of New Zealand drama in their course of work.
The NCEA external examinations at each level (Level 1 – AS90011, Level 2
– AS91219, Level 3 – AS91518) require students to write about live theatre
they have seen. Students who are able to experience fully produced,
professional theatre are generally advantaged in answering these questions.
26
27
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AUCKLAND THEATRE COMPANY
487 Dominion Road, Mt Eden PO Box 96002, Balmoral, Auckland 1342
Ph: 09 309 0390 Fax: 09 309 0391 Email: [email protected]